Students from The Out-of-Door Academy and the nation’s top marine scientists spent countless hours gathered around ODA’s scanning electron microscope (SEM) in the microscopy lab at Sarasota’s Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium. The partnership, facilitated by Hitachi’s INSPIRE initiative and promoted by ODA’s Director of STEM Programming Ms. Caitlyn Dixon, brought ODA and Mote researchers together for a unique opportunity to collaborate. For months, Aengus Doody ’26, Luca Marino ’23, Alexandra Morgan ’22, and Johnny Robinson ’23 worked with researchers on a variety of marine-related projects utilizing the SEM. The scientists and students developed new methods of utilizing the SEM’s technology to scan the tiniest of samples.

One revelation was the discovery of diatoms that have never before been imaged. These diatoms are an important factor in the study of red tide prevention–an important subject of study in the Gulf Coast region. A second group researching cancer treatments focused on stingray biology. Images of stingray venom glands captured by Aengus and Dr. Carl Luer were included in the scientific publication “Bioactivity of Atlantic Stingray (Hypanus sabinus) Venom on Murine Fibrosarcoma Cell Line.”

“We are excited about this expanding partnership with Mote Aquarium, which will provide students with a common thread in their STEM experience at ODA from pre-K through the Upper School,” said Ms. Dixon. “We are proud to leverage our partnership with Hitachi INSPIRE to provide our students with a unique experience working as laboratory technicians in a world-renowned marine research facility, and look forward to facilitating future research projects with them.”

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